Stephanie Cremona, Louis Newman, Fiona Wood and Tyler Collins in Sunshine on Leith at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Picture: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
Sunshine on Leith continues at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until 27 September 2025.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
As summer continues, Sunshine on Leith illuminates the Pitlochry stage. With an outstanding score featuring the hits of The Proclaimers, David Shrubsole’s arrangements perfectly showcase the talented cast’s skills as musicians. The vocal harmonies offer such a fresh, dynamic range that sparks joy in the audience.
As the two young soldiers returning from Afghanistan, Ally (Tyler Collins) and Davy (Alexander Service) have a great rapport from the get-go and their voices blend terrifically well. Their love interests are played by Fiona Wood (as Liz) and April Nerissa Hudson (Yvonne). Both women are wonderful and adept at finding every nuance in their dialogue.
However, this production most definitely belongs to the more senior generation: Alyson Orr’s Jean is flawless. And an amusing Rab from Keith Macpherson completely nails the character. The outstanding moment of this revival belongs to Orr – her ‘Sunshine on Leith’ is heartrendingly beautiful. You could hear a pin drop. Holding the audience under her spell, there was a delicious pause before the audience applauded the song. Just lovely.
Ben Occhipinti has skilfully updated Elizabeth Newman’s original production to suit the cast perfectly with the pace perfect right up to the final curtain call.
If you’re lucky enough to have the chance to see Sunshine on Leith at Pitlochry, you won’t regret it. The only point of regret is that those tickets are few and far between. A definite hit!
Fiona Orr
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